Cash boost for road repairs in Bucks

Buckinghamshire County Council has secured extra capital spending funds from Whitehall and is promising to pump £12m of the windfall into road repairs.

The extra funding means Buckinghamshire County Council's capital budget rises from £5m to £16.8m.

Council transport bosses plan to spend around £14.2m on highway maintenance – £11.7m of which will go on resurfacing roads.

The remaining £2.5m will go towards bridge, street lighting and drainage repairs and £2.6m on 'integrated transport improvements'.

A further £2m has also been brought forward from the 2012/13 budget for the upcoming year.

Cabinet Member for Transport, Cllr Valerie Letheren, said: "This additional funding for next year is a welcome increase on last year's budget, allowing us to prioritise essential works to help bring back to repair some of the roads which have been most badly affected by the winter weather.”

A hitlist of roads in need of repair has been drawn up, based on inspections and pothole data.

Other work will include £1.4m on essential bridge maintenance, £500k on replacing weak lamp columns and £500k to improve highway drainage systems – to reduce the risk of flooding and protect carriageway surfaces.

The £2.6m for 'integrated transport improvements' will be spent on road safety and congestion reduction measures.